Each week D from Mass Assembly will feature a cover song. He gets one take to make it work. You can only listen to these songs on the Mass Assembly official facebook page or through the official website, so be sure to sign up for the RSS or Email List to your left.  By the Way…if you’re expecting Andrea Bocelli you’re going to be a bit disappointed…
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January 19, 2011

This week’s favourite song of all time is The Ramones‘ “Danny Says“.  From the classic “End of the Century” album,

“‘Danny Says’ is a love song written by singer Joey Ramone at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles when the Ramones were staying there for the recording of End of the Century. At the time Joey was rooming with Arturo Vega. The “Danny” alluded to in the title is the Ramones’ manager, Danny Fields. When Joey was later asked what were his favorite Ramones songs he was quoted as replying, ‘Danny Says was always a favorite’. The romantic inspiration for the song is believed to be Linda Danielle, Joey’s girlfriend at the time. Linda later ended her romantic involvement with Joey to instead begin a relationship with and eventually marry the band’s guitarist Johnny Ramone. Although this virtually ended dialog between the two bandmates, both remained in the Ramones until the band split up in 1996.

The lyrics include reference to a character named Sheena. Sheena is a Punk Rocker is a track on the 1977 Ramones album, Rocket to Russia. The lyrics also include a reference to the late 1960s TV program, Get Smart. Another reference in the song is to Christmas, reflecting the difference at that time of year between where the band were recording in Los Angeles and the Ramones’ home town of New York City – It ain’t Christmas if there ain’t no snow.

Johnny later commented on working with Phil Spector on the recording of the album, “It really worked when he got to a slower song like ‘Danny Says’—the production really worked tremendously. For the harder stuff, it didn’t work as well.”

- Wikipedia

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January 12, 2011

This week’s favourite song of all time is “Venus” by Television (who just happen to be this week’s favourite band of all time) from their masterpiece of an album, Marquis Moon:

“Television was one of the mainstay acts that emerged from the CBGB scene in New York City. This album features the elliptical lyrics of Tom Verlaine set against the sparse yet complex guitar work of Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, and the rhythm section of Fred Smith (bass) and Billy Ficca (drums). The introspective mood of the album, and the careful, instrumental virtuosity of the band were arguably one of the first manifestations of the post punk movement. Despite critical acclaim, the album never achieved more than a cult following in the United States at the time of its release, but rose to #28 in Britain, partly because of a lengthy rave review by Nick Kent in the New Musical Express.

Its high reputation in Britain has persisted: in 2003 NME declared Marquee Moon to be the fourth best album of all time. In the same year, the TV network VH1 placed it 83rd. It was also ranked at #128 in the Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time,^[1] while Pitchfork Media named the album the 3rd best of the 1970s. In March 2005, Q magazine placed the song “Marquee Moon” 51st in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The album usually sits inside the top 20 albums of the Rate Your Music: All-Time Top 5000 Albums and is #25 at Acclaimed Music.

The original vinyl recording was composed of eight tracks. The remastered 2003 compact disc re-release of Marquee Moon retains the same track order, but the title track continues to 10:40, rather than fading out as on the original LP.

The album was dedicated to William Terry Ork, on whose label, Ork Records, the band’s first single (“Little Johnny Jewel (Parts 1 & 2)”) was released.

- Wikipedia

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January 5, 2011

This week’s cover is one of D’s all time favorites: Bruce Springsteen‘s “Sherry Darling“, which was originally recorded for Darkness on the Edge of Town but he left it off because he thought it was too upbeat for the album. It was included on The River to incorporate an element of fun to balance off the ballads.

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